Vagabond Loafers

Formulaic remake omits the intro trial scene and police chase subplot, and drops the trio into a mansion with a leak during a ritzy dinner party. Here, the three really are plumbers by trade, sort of (Moe is even reading How To Be A Plumber!) Shemp traps himself in a cage built from the water pipes, exactly like Curly did in the original. Never would have expected that. Nor would I have expected to see the footage of the cook from the original, and Larry digging in the yard, lifted whole from the earlier short film.

Everything moves along too quickly here, everything seems rushed to its predictable conclusion. The theft of a valuable painting has been added as a subplot to pad out the run time. Mistaken identities ensue, but it all just ends up distracting and over-complicating what was originally a quite funny, simple story. Emil Sitka has the funniest line, "Short circuit, no doubt!"

Moe, to Larry: "What do you charge to haunt a house?" Larry: "How many rooms?"

When I was watching this short one afternoon I thought that it was a very good short but it falls a bit short of being a classic cause I noticed that Larry takes more of Moe's wrath than Shemp, although I've only seen the edited version on the Family Channel, it is my understanding that Shemp does get hit but only once, and there is one scene when Shemp destroys the pipes and Moe doesn't even hit him, I found that surprising and the subplot of Kenneth MacDonald and Christine McIntyre wanting to steal an expensive painting keeps the short more exciting.

Although there aren't alot of classic moments in this short but this short overall is well done and fast paced and who cares that it's a remake of the classic Curly short A Plumbing We Will Go, this is a good Shemp short although I prefer Scheming Schemers (remake) more than this short.

8/10

As others have mentioned, this was a reworking of sorts from the 1940 Stooges film, "A Plumbing We Will Go," which featured Curly instead of Shemp and the boys.

I'm not going to go into too much of the story because they used some stock footage in here or they just did the same gags they had done earlier in the '40 film, which I hate to see as I've probably seen all these shorts many times over. Still, I never cease to laugh at some things, such as Dudley Dickenson's act as the cook doing double-takes and slipping and sliding all over the floor as the kitchen gets flooded, or Larry's head popping out of the ground.

When you see Kenneth MacDonald in a Three Stooges film you know you've just seen the villain. MacDonald who had a tough, film-noir voice and face. They were always good in those roles, as was Christine McIntyre, another regular in these shorts, and Emil Sitka, who usually was innocent victim of something the Stooges did. Another regular, Symona Bonfice, always plays a stuffy socialite who winds up getting ruined by the inept Stooges. As you can see, there are many familiar "Three Stooges" faces in this humorous remake.

Despite the familiarity of this story, it was still a lot of fun to watch.

VAGABOND LOAFERS is a reworking of the 1940 Curly classic A-PLUMBING WE WILL GO. Scenes from the original are used in this film, such as Larry digging a hole and Dudley Dickerson as a cook in the family kitchen. This short has great gags, but I won't spoil them for those who haven't seen it.

**** out of 4 stars.

Trivia- Remade as SCHEMING SCHEMERS in 1956.

This remake almost does as well as "A Plumbing We Will Go" itself! The maze of pipes scene is redone real well with Shemp. There are also some new added plumbing scenes which are quite funny. The new plot addition was great, and adds even more excitement than just an episode in home disaster. The only problem with this one is that most of the footage with the hilarious Dudley Dickerson is from "A Plumbing We Will Go". But overall, an excellent remake well directed by the masterful stooge director Edward Bernds.

Grade: A